For collectors that can’t afford the real thing, a fourrée (plated counterfeit) example of the EID MAR coin is also scheduled for auction.

Classical Numismatic Groups’ auction No. 123, to be held May 23 and 24, includes an example of this would-be coin.

In general, fourrées are counterfeits plated with the same type of precious metal that was used for authentic examples, and they were intended to deceive. They would pass in circulation until the plating wore through, revealing the base metal underneath.

The offered example has a large area of broken plating on the reverse, and exhibits several scratches and scrapes.

The auction house assigns it a condition of Fine, and notes that 15 fourrées of the EID MAR type are recorded, including this particular example, which was previously sold in the firm’s Sept. 16, 2020, auction.

In that sale, it realized a hammer price of $5,000. It was also once sold by Dix and Webb in a March 27, 1996, auction.

In the current sale, it has an estimate of $2,000.

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